In a typical wireless communications system utilizing the 3GPP or 3GPP2 protocol standards, a network access terminal (AT) connected to a network (AN) routinely requires a change to its existing state. To accomplish such a change in the AT, the AT and the AN must communicate with each other. In particular, a protocol process of the AT known as the Session Configuration Protocol (SCP)—a protocol process responsible for coordinating and managing the configuration of other protocol processes—must communicate with its corresponding peer on the AN. Likewise, other non-SCP protocol processes of the AT requiring change must communicate with their corresponding peer on the AN.
Therefore, there is a needed for a method which defines a standard by which an AT requiring configuration change coordinates its protocol processes to relay its need to change the existing configuration status of one or more of its protocol processes to the AN. The method should also define a standard by which the SCP of the AT informs the protocol process requiring a change in its status that it is allowed to execute the change.